Cleaning up vomit?

[Doctor]

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Hey-lo, I just got off the phone with my father, and he recounted a conversation he had with my sister, who is a nurse. She listed this litany of reasons she can't see me ever being a doctor. My Dad, who is apparently getting older, could only remember one of the things she listed: cleaning up vomit.

Now, it's my impression that doctors don't really spend much of their time cleaning up vomit... am I wrong? If so, isn't that a poor division of labor, to have someone making $150,000 a year (presumably to diagnose things) cleaning vomit instead of someone making say $40,000 a year (presumably for janitorial duties)?

 

[Ashers]

Hey-lo, I just got off the phone with my father, and he recounted a conversation he had with my sister, who is a nurse. She listed this litany of reasons she can't see me ever being a doctor. My Dad, who is apparently getting older, could only remember one of the things she listed: cleaning up vomit.

Now, it's my impression that doctors don't really spend much of their time cleaning up vomit... am I wrong? If so, isn't that a poor division of labor, to have someone making $150,000 a year (presumably to diagnose things) cleaning vomit instead of someone making say $40,000 a year (presumably for janitorial duties)?

Sounds like you've got a really supportive sister.

While I haven't seen doctors be the MAIN person cleaning up vomit, I've seen them help sometimes, especially if the patient threw up when the doctor's there. As a med student, I've helped patients too, especially since I just got off of peds. The sequence usually went, help the patient feel a little less awkward (papertowels or something or just being supportive when they throw up), then go get the nurse to page someone.

I'm so glad I've gotten over the reaction I used to have when I was little where I'd throw up if I even smelled puke.

 

[lilnoelle]

I'm so glad I've gotten over the reaction I used to have when I was little where I'd throw up if I even smelled puke.

I got over that shortly after having children.

 

[MattD]

Yeah you're gonna clean up puke when it lands on you though 🙂

 

[TexasTriathlete]

So its about shift-change, and I'm getting situated, finding out what section I'm in, etc., at the ER where I work. There is a crackhead in the indestructable tile room who has puked all over the place, and then shat herself and started playing in it, throwing it at the walls and stuff. I watch in amazement as some of the day shifters are restraining this crackhead while trying not to get any of her goo on them. The housekeeping staff comes up and starts cleaning up the mess as they haul crackhead off to the shower to hose her down.

Nurse: So are you sure you want to go into medicine?
Me: I don't see any doctors in there.

 

[MattD]

So its about shift-change, and I'm getting situated, finding out what section I'm in, etc., at the ER where I work. There is a crackhead in the indestructable tile room who has puked all over the place, and then shat herself and started playing in it, throwing it at the walls and stuff. I watch in amazement as some of the day shifters are restraining this crackhead while trying not to get any of her goo on them. The housekeeping staff comes up and starts cleaning up the mess as they haul crackhead off to the shower to hose her down.

Nurse: So are you sure you want to go into medicine?
Me: I don't see any doctors in there.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

that's a classic response. Did it piss her off?

 

[TexasTriathlete]

No, she thought it was funny. My current job could potentially involve regular contact with vomit, so I can make fun of others when it happens.

And somehow, I work with cool nurses, including quite a few hot chicks. I keep hearing nightmare stories about nurses, but I don't see much of that where I work. And we're the busiest Level II trauma in the country too.

 

[mjl1717]

Hey-lo, I just got off the phone with my father, and he recounted a conversation he had with my sister, who is a nurse. She listed this litany of reasons she can't see me ever being a doctor. My Dad, who is apparently getting older, could only remember one of the things she listed: cleaning up vomit.

Now, it's my impression that doctors don't really spend much of their time cleaning up vomit... am I wrong? If so, isn't that a poor division of labor, to have someone making $150,000 a year (presumably to diagnose things) cleaning vomit instead of someone making say $40,000 a year (presumably for janitorial duties)?

Geez,This could be comic relief..

Holy Osler!!
Cleaning up vomittt--Thats the LEAST of your problems(in this arena) ..

On the serious side if your patient vomits, you help, call a nurse, and have diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in your pocket....Geez!😴

 

[alphaholic06]

Hey-lo, I just got off the phone with my father, and he recounted a conversation he had with my sister, who is a nurse. She listed this litany of reasons she can't see me ever being a doctor. My Dad, who is apparently getting older, could only remember one of the things she listed: cleaning up vomit.

Now, it's my impression that doctors don't really spend much of their time cleaning up vomit... am I wrong? If so, isn't that a poor division of labor, to have someone making $150,000 a year (presumably to diagnose things) cleaning vomit instead of someone making say $40,000 a year (presumably for janitorial duties)?

Where the hell do janitors make $40,000 a year?

 

[Tired]

Now, it's my impression that doctors don't really spend much of their time cleaning up vomit... am I wrong?

I'm post-call. Last night I was vomited on and bled on by the same dude.

The only vomit I clean is off of myself.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

On a related note, I think that two code grays in a 24-hour period on any patient should be an automatic tasering, with an additional tasering with each subsequent code gray.

Code gray is "physically or verbally abusive patient, without a weapon" in my hospital. Whatever the equivalent is at any facility, the rule should be the same.

 

[MSKalltheway]

On a related note, I think that two code grays in a 24-hour period on any patient should be an automatic tasering, with an additional tasering with each subsequent code gray.

DON'T TASE ME BRO!

Sorry I just couldn't help myself.

 

[lisichka]

how often do you see "vomiting patients" while in the hospital? every day, 10 times a day?
i am very sensitive to vomiting, and become nauseated/vomit when i see someone throw up. (God forbid this will ever happen). my first gut response is to run away FAST. any good advice? dramamine maybe.😕

 

[Its_MurDAH]

how often do you see "vomiting patients" while in the hospital? every day, 10 times a day?
i am very sensitive to vomiting, and become nauseated/vomit when i see someone throw up. (God forbid this will ever happen). my first gut response is to run away FAST. any good advice? dramamine maybe.😕

or you could just get over it

either way

 

[mjl1717]

how often do you see "vomiting patients" while in the hospital? every day, 10 times a day?
i am very sensitive to vomiting, and become nauseated/vomit when i see someone throw up. (God forbid this will ever happen). my first gut response is to run away FAST. any good advice? dramamine maybe.😕

Seriously, not a field for the squimish, fickle, too soft, and underexposed!!

 

[lisichka]

Seriously, not a field for the squimish, fickle, too soft, and underexposed!!

so you think if i am squeamish, i should quit?🙁

 

[Tired]

how often do you see "vomiting patients" while in the hospital? every day, 10 times a day?
i am very sensitive to vomiting, and become nauseated/vomit when i see someone throw up. (God forbid this will ever happen). my first gut response is to run away FAST. any good advice? dramamine maybe.😕

You can immediately walk out of the room, find a nurse, and tell her that the patient is vomiting and needs assistance.

It will make you look like a tool, but you do what you gotta do.

 

[mjl1717]

so you think if i am squeamish, i should quit?🙁

Im not saying that, but you may want to observe or shadow someone who does ENT, Internal Medicine or G.I. or some gory, gross, fluid projected area.. To honestly see if you want and can take it!

 

[lisichka]

Im not saying that, but you may want to observe or shadow someone who does ENT, Internal Medicine or G.I. or some gory, gross, fluid projected area.. To honestly see if you want and can take it!

i did shadow an IM doctor/different surgeons, and it was all fine. blood and gory do not affect me at all. it is just the smell and sight of a vomiting person/vomit that gets to me... and during those shadowings i haven't seen patients vomit once i am afraid of my reaction to them...my horrific hour has not come yet i guess...

 

[Doctor]

Sounds like you've got a really supportive sister.

She's an OB nurse, what would you expect? 🙂

 

[Ashers]

She's an OB nurse, what would you expect? 🙂

Oh goodness. 'nuff said.

 

[mjl1717]

i did shadow an IM doctor/different surgeons, and it was all fine. blood and gory do not affect me at all. it is just the smell and sight of a vomiting person/vomit that gets to me... and during those shadowings i haven't seen patients vomit once i am afraid of my reaction to them...my horrific hour has not come yet i guess...

Ok, as Tired said above you could just walk out of the room, but it just does NOT look good!! The nurses will talk about you (for whatever thats worth and folks will find out)
It kind of like when a criminal is in the act of shooting and a officer puts his car or being in reverse..

 

[lisichka]

Ok, as Tired said above you could just walk out of the room, but it just does NOT look good!! The nurses will talk about you (for whatever thats worth and folks will find out)
It kind of like when a criminal is in the act of shooting and a officer puts his car or being in reverse..[/QUOTE]



nurses will talk about me?!😕
what would be the PROPER protocol for helping a vomiting patient?
1. hold his/her head
2. call nurses or janitor, i always thought janitor cleans up vomit, not nurses, oh well (while staying in the room)
3. get papertowels, clean the patient
4.???? what else????

please let me know whether it is about right?!
i will be in the hospital next week.

maybe i will get over it?!

 

[kronickm]

Honestly, when I was working in the ER it always smelled like a combination of vomit and $hit. Being around someone who is vomiting is not nearly as bad when it always smells like vomit.

 

[lisichka]

Honestly, when I was working in the ER it always smelled like a combination of vomit and $hit. Being around someone who is vomiting is not nearly as bad when it always smells like vomit.

my ER was sparkling clean. more like a luxury hotel than a hospital. we did have gunshot victims/criminals, stroke patients, heart attack patients, flu, broken bones. i am sure people vomited (i just didn't witness that), but why such a big difference?

 

[Bananas Foster]

Where the hell do janitors make $40,000 a year?

Chicago

Many hospitals have janitorial unions, and starting pay can be 12-15 an hour.

When I first moved to chicago I sent out about 50-60 resumes and applications, then i got really desperate, saw the janitor starting pay, and in a moment of insanity threw out a few applications. unfortunately being union jobs and hard to get, i was rejected, making that one of my more surreal job searches.

but yeah, janitors, even dog walkers make more than i do

 

[Bananas Foster]

So its about shift-change, and I'm getting situated, finding out what section I'm in, etc., at the ER where I work. There is a crackhead in the indestructable tile room who has puked all over the place, and then shat herself and started playing in it, throwing it at the walls and stuff. I watch in amazement as some of the day shifters are restraining this crackhead while trying not to get any of her goo on them. The housekeeping staff comes up and starts cleaning up the mess as they haul crackhead off to the shower to hose her down.

Nurse: So are you sure you want to go into medicine?
Me: I don't see any doctors in there.

👍👍👍 Classic

 

[45408]

Where the hell do janitors make $40,000 a year?

Seriously? Lots of places. A guy I went to high school with was a janitor at a public middle school in a middle-class suburb, and he was making $18/hr with benefits as of a few years ago. He's gotten promoted to more "building management" type of work, and he's making even more now. Don't underestimate what the cleaning people might be making.

 

[Doctor]

but yeah, janitors, even dog walkers make more than i do

I know an i-banking VP (not that senior of a position, he's 29) in NYC who pays his dog walker $20,000 a year to walk his dog 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I don't think she's allowed to bring other dogs along a the same time, but still... it's not a bad gig if you can get it! If she has 3 other similar arrangements, that would be $80,000 a year sans benefits.

 

[Maxx4]

When I was 18/19 I use to be a dog walker and a babysitter. People would pay me 13.50 an hour to walk their dog and go to the park with Little Fluffy but couldn't pay me the same to take care of their kid(s)!

 

[alphaholic06]

Seriously? Lots of places. A guy I went to high school with was a janitor at a public middle school in a middle-class suburb, and he was making $18/hr with benefits as of a few years ago. He's gotten promoted to more "building management" type of work, and he's making even more now. Don't underestimate what the cleaning people might be making.

I'm shocked because I know teachers who only make $30,000 a year.

 

[Blade28]

I've unfortunately cleaned up my fair share of urine, feces, blood and vomit as a physician.

🙁

 

[lisichka]

I've unfortunately cleaned up my fair share of urine, feces, blood and vomit as a physician.

🙁

how often did you do it? and how? with papertowels and cleanex?

 

[Blade28]

how often did you do it? and how? with papertowels and cleanex?

Paper towels, washclothes, gauze pads, spare gown...

Sometimes the patient's bodily fluids are on ME. That's worse. 😱

 

[mjl1717]

delete

 

[mjl1717]

Where the hell do janitors make $40,000 a year?

Seriously?? Because most people in this country - the U. S. make within one standard deviation of the mean annual salary in this country..[especially in New York, but maybe not in Mississippi] 😕

 

[coldweatherblue]

when I put a water pump or head gasket on my car, I get a bit greasy. I would be disappointed if human beings didn't afford me the same pleasure.

 

[45408]

I'm shocked because I know teachers who only make $30,000 a year.

While I do too (my private HS teachers made less than that no matter how long they'd been there) - most public school systems pay their teachers a lot better than that. I know that the cities/suburbs around here do, because I've talked to teachers who work there. They're also working 3/4 of the year.

 

[Blesbok]

While I do too (my private HS teachers made less than that no matter how long they'd been there) - most public school systems pay their teachers a lot better than that. I know that the cities/suburbs around here do, because I've talked to teachers who work there. They're also working 3/4 of the year.

Don't forget that the ones making $30-40k a year are also usually grade school teachers who get off at 2-3 and have very little after school work for grading.

 

[Doctor]

Don't forget that the ones making $30-40k a year are also usually grade school teachers who get off at 2-3 and have very little after school work for grading.

So 30 hrs/week, with 12-13 weeks off per year (11-12 of them consecutively and in the summer months). Not bad at all! Why does this have me looking into being a teacher now? 😀

 

[prettymonkey]

i did shadow an IM doctor/different surgeons, and it was all fine. blood and gory do not affect me at all. it is just the smell and sight of a vomiting person/vomit that gets to me... and during those shadowings i haven't seen patients vomit once i am afraid of my reaction to them...my horrific hour has not come yet i guess...

me tooooo!!! i cannot even look at vomit. i am the worst friend to have around when someone gets sick. i make them clean up their own puke.

 

[45408]

So 30 hrs/week, with 12-13 weeks off per year (11-12 of them consecutively and in the summer months). Not bad at all! Why does this have me looking into being a teacher now? 😀

Have you ever worked with a bunch of little kids? It's great if they're all well-disciplined, as were most of my grade school classmates, but if you work in a big city system, you're going to be spending plenty of time keeping them in line.

 

[Blesbok]

So 30 hrs/week, with 12-13 weeks off per year (11-12 of them consecutively and in the summer months). Not bad at all! Why does this have me looking into being a teacher now? 😀

Screw that, I don't want to go into peds and I don't want to go into teaching. I hate little kids that I don't personally know because I can't reprimand them like they sometimes need to be reprimanded and more than that, I hate parents because a lot of them suck at raising their kids or even worse are abusive to their kids. I am pretty sure I would have to kill a parent before my career was over if I had to deal with kids all day.

 

[tacrum43]

On a related note, I think that two code grays in a 24-hour period on any patient should be an automatic tasering, with an additional tasering with each subsequent code gray.

Code gray is "physically or verbally abusive patient, without a weapon" in my hospital. Whatever the equivalent is at any facility, the rule should be the same.

Yeah, that'll show those patients who's boss...🙄

 

[BigRedBeta]

I have to say that one of my simplest joys (and I'm effing smug for saying this) is being able to walk out of a patient's room, grab a nurse, and have them clean up whatever bodily fluid that just got emitted from a patient, telling them "I'll be back to talk with them later" while I go on to see my next patient.

 

[Dr. McDreamy]

I was in the ER once and a patient came in comatose and covered in feces. there were like 3 nurses in there cleaning her up... you could smell it in the hallway. My attending looks at me and says "and THAT'S why I went to medical school...!"

Whenever i'm feeling sorry for myself and envying the nurse's with their regular schedules I remind myself that at least we don't have to do the really dirty work.👍

 

[45408]

Yeah, that'll show those patients who's boss...🙄

I bet it would.

 

[MossPoh]

I know an i-banking VP (not that senior of a position, he's 29) in NYC who pays his dog walker $20,000 a year to walk his dog 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I don't think she's allowed to bring other dogs along a the same time, but still... it's not a bad gig if you can get it! If she has 3 other similar arrangements, that would be $80,000 a year sans benefits.

My brother gets paid 100 dollars an hour to work on some rich dude's rare car collection. We are talking some very expensive cars in a personalized climate controlled garage with a manet and a few other expensive paintings hanging on the wall. It is his part time gig. He goes there after work and tinkers around for 3 hours till traffic dies down. Lots of tough work though. He has to custom machine a lot of parts....like for the oldsmobile with the straight 12, or the rolls royce from 1915 or something.